Like “Oppenheimer,” premium screens boosted “Gladiator II.” IMAX provided $9.4 million of its domestic total; “Wicked” saw less than half of that. By comparison, “Barbie” had fewer premium screens and no IMAX imprint.

The musical adaptation "Wicked" and action epic "Gladiator II" racked up a combined $270.2 million in global ticket sales over the weekend, a gift to cinemas heading into what may be a record-setting holiday season.

Battling a 27 percent decline in domestic ticket sales compared with before the pandemic, studios left no marketing drum unthumped in releasing the movies.